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 Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 10:55 pm
 The moon lit up the banks by the river like silver fire.
It was a Hunter’s Moon and ringed by frost which meant the night would be cold to mortals. Winter prowled around the corner. The shift in temperature causing the leaves to lose their lush green in favor of fiery oranges, yellows, and reds. Yet the grass held out, verdant still. That would change soon. Everything changed.
Well, almost everything.
Lillian sat at a small table on the makeshift porch that wrapped around her Vurdon. A large, impressive wagon the color of smooth cream with crimson accents and trim. Curiously adorned with striking symbols and shapes. Though whether they were just decoration, actual script, or both, was hard to discern.
Golden lights dangled from beautiful, ornate, little glass jars along the edges of the roof, casting a golden glow across the porch, lengthening the shadows that prowled beneath her feet.
She seemed to be pondering something laid out on the table before her.
Three cards.
The body of the cards were a lush red, like rich wine. The etchings riding their backs a gilded silver.
A small fire crackled and roared a few feet away, causing more shadows to dance along the walls of her home and filling the air with the thick scent of wood smoke.
The river burbled calmly in its bed, accompanied by the soft sound of crickets and frogs.
It was beautiful.
Peaceful.
And honestly, boring her to Final Death.
The Ravnos withdrew the cigar from her luscious lips and continued to contemplate the cards.
Well, ******** her.
“Baro..” She whispered.
Whatever it was seemed to elicit a smirk and she leaned back in her chair, enjoying another drag.
Company was coming.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2022 8:59 am
It had been the scent of the cigar's smoke that drew Ashke to this particular vardo. She knew what it was, of course... as a vagabond with no ties of her own, the bunny could recognize a Romani wagon. The Romani were not like her, exactly. They had a family, a caravan to run with. Then again... maybe she was a bit like them, now. Ravnos was to blame for that, yet she couldn't be upset about it. With a certain curiosity about her new kin, she approached the vardo, the scent of tobacco and cloves washed over her. It was quite similar, but not exactly the same to the one she'd been given by the vampire who'd embraced her.
But when she found Lillian, she knew it. Instantaneous recognition shot through her in a way that surprised her. There she was, sitting at a table on what must be the porch of her vardo. Something about the cards she had laid before her confirmed it to Ashke, as though she had had any doubt. "You're Lillian, aren't you?" She concealed, for the moment, who had sent her. Although she was certain of Lillian's identity, she wanted to hear it first before she explained any further. Lillian, Ravnos had told her, would be able to teach her about being in this clan. Her new identity was strange to her, but not unwelcome. Wreathed in smoke, the fledgling observed her elder... what was she, a sister? Thinking. Wondering. What came next?
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2022 11:47 pm
It didn’t take long.
Emerald eyes half-lidded as she took another long drag on her homemade cigar. The scent was unique, strong yet smooth. Blended with the tobacco was a series of other herbs and spices. Some familiar, some hard to pin down.
Clove, sweet woodruff, marshmallow leaf, something akin to cinnamon, a hint of vanilla... It was an old family recipe. Ravnos’s were better, but hers reminded her of the old days. And for that she’d keep smoking them.
As the bunny approached, the light of the fire caught her silhouette and Lillian subtly cocked her head. One brow raised in contemplation. Not bad. It wasn’t every day a pretty little doll like this wandered into her camp. This one appeared to have a purpose. Thank.. whatever deity she was supposed to be praying to this week.
The aimless were usually trouble, or worse, work.
The petite Kat, a dancer in her mortal life, leaned forward in her chair, elbows on the table and claws laced together. She rested her chin gingerly upon them and smiled. Cigar perched between her teeth.
You're Lillian, aren't you?
So, the cards were right. New blood. No-one asked for her unless they were sent looking for her. And very few were looking for her.
The unnatural eyeshine of immortality flickered for a moment behind the plumes from her cigar as they curled skyward.
“The one and only. Let me guess, pet.”
Lillian began, taking a deep drag. The cherry lighting up her eyes like the fires of hell.
“You met the devil down by the river and he gave you a shiny new unlife?”
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2022 7:32 am
While not entirely untrue, Lillian's words did not totally encapsulate the rabbit's experience. Ashke observed the vampire for a long moment, taking in the sight of the one who surely shared something of blood with her. There were undoubtedly traces of Ravnos's own influence upon her, or perhaps that was the bunny's own illusion. "Not exactly. I met the devil down by the river and he pulled me back from death's door... right through it." To a new life, even if it was an unlife. The beast who had ravaged her that night, whose teeth had rent her own life from her was not her sire, but someone whom she loathed with a passion that might've frightened her, were she prone to the emotion.
As it was... "He told me you could teach me what it means to be part of this family." The cigar tempted her; she had the remnants of one from Ravnos himself, which was quite fine, but not whole like the one Lillian was presently enjoying. A more careful glance informed her that there were cards on the table. If she'd been a bit more curious, she might have asked what they meant, but for now... she wanted to know what she'd been sent to find out. What did it mean to be part of clan Ravnos?
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2022 10:03 pm
Lillian’s luminous eyes flashed again in the darkness as she chuckled, a soft almost purring sound, her chin still perched upon intertwined claws. “Ah, now there’s a story.” She slowly sat back in her chair, gesturing an arm at an empty bench with lavish red and gold satin cushions nestled on the opposite side of the porch. It was more a nook than a proper bench, like one might find set into a bay window, but big enough to accommodate two bodies comfortably.
That predatory gaze drifted down to the table as the cigar rolled to one side of her mouth and she inhaled again, smoke escaping out the other side while sharp claws tapped on the top of the tarot deck and she lazily turned a card. A smirk followed. “What it means, hmm? The short and sweet is that you’re dead. But you’re now immortal. I don’t know how much the Baro told you..” She paused, taking another drag on the cigar, eyes still trained on the card before they lifted. “It doesn’t really matter if you’re a Phralmulo or a Georgio. (That’s Romani blooded vs. non-Romani). No-one’s going to really give a s**t and if they do just kick their a**.” The bells adorning her attire chimed as she laughed, it was a soothing sound, almost haunting. Intense emerald eyes watched Ashke with an almost reserved curiosity.
“Sure, your new family might be a bunch of assholes sometimes, and you can always hit the road when you need your space, but when the chips are down being a Ravnos means something. You had no family? No one to have your back? Now you have ‘The Treatment’ which means if someone ******** with you the clan will make their life a living hell.” She hadn’t seen a Treatment with her own eyes but she knew several Ravnos who'd exercised the right. And several Princes who'd been driven to the brink of madness by the resulting chaos.
Most city vampires were content with giving the Ravnos their space. They knew that whatever grudges they had weren’t worth the trouble of insulting a lone Ravnos who would then multiply like a plague and make their unlives miserable. Lillian stopped as though not quite ready to dive deeper just yet. Her arms crossed over her chest and she cocked her head to one side, fiery locks falling across an eye as she did so. “What's your name little rabbit?" The question was soft, gentle almost. The one that followed it held a more intentional tone however. "And what dark trail did you wander down that lead you to our door?”
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2022 8:55 pm
"What the f*ck is family, anyway? I don't know what I am, where I'm from. None of it." She dismissed it with a sweep of her arm. "But that's what Ravnos said I have now. What you're saying I have." Romani or not Romani, it didn't matter. She'd been alone her whole life. That had suddenly stopped at her death. Wasn't that ironic? Dead, and suddenly she was riddled with family. Like roaches. What the f*ck. Dragging a hand down her face, Ashke listened, her ears twitching, swiveling this way and that as the other vampire talked.
And talked.
And talked.
"Ashke." Her name, her only belonging. "I was taking a smoke in the wrong place and a f*cking vampire ripped my throat out. Ravnos called him something like... Zap?" That guy needed to go f*ck himself. Her eyes simmered with hate, red hot and then orange like coals that had burnt down to a low but steady flame. Then, abruptly, it went out. What had her life meant, anyway? She'd had nothing, did nothing, was loved by nothing and no one. The Ravnos clan might not be a lot, but it wasn't nothing.
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2022 6:18 pm
Lillian could feel it. Burning anger, hatred, pouring out of this young vampire. It would have been a delicious emotion to savor had there not been a gaping void in this creature. There was nothing satisfying about a broken soul, not to her. The vampire stood abruptly, her chair sliding back as she left the table and descended the stairs towards Ashke. All that rage had been saturating the air and suddenly, emptiness. Like a wildfire reduced to smoldering coal.
She stopped in front of the Rabbit and pulled a second cigar from between her breasts. The soft jingle of her jewelry amplified by the quiet evening. The frogs had quieted down which left only the soft sound of crickets serenading the night.
Lighting the fresh cigar against the cherry of her own she offered it to her. “Come Ashke. Sit with me.” She didn’t hesitate to take her hand firmly within her own, surprisingly warm for an undead creature, it was likely she’d fed not too long ago. She led her toward the steps and over to the bench. The soft golden light of the small lanterns illuminated everything, shadows dancing against the Vurdon from the bonfire.
Zap.. there was only one Ravnos could have been talking about. And that was Zapathasura. Meaning she’d had a rough entry into this life. It sounded like she’d had a rough existence before her path ended with the son anyway. Lillian was a patient creature, she was hard to offend, and she knew the wounded when she saw them. It wasn’t her job to heal this pain, Ashke would have to wander that trail herself, but she wasn’t alone anymore. How to spell that out in a way that made sense was another matter. Sitting down she leaned back into the pillows, her shock of red hair puffing out and over her shoulders. The loose curls catching the golden glow in a way that made them almost fiery. “How long have you been alone, child?” The end of her cigar burned as she inhaled. The smoke curling slowly toward the sky, almost in slow motion.
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Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2022 7:25 pm
There was nothing to do but let this vampire pull her up onto the bench. The cigar, when offered, was welcome. Ashke took a long drag off of it, holding it between her fingers like a lifeline. She didn't want to spill her guts. She'd never been one to open up, not even to family, as the Ravnos seemed to think themselves. The way, well... maybe they were. In lieu of an immediate answer, she enjoyed the bloom of the cigar as the hazy scent of cloves, cinnamon, and vanilla wafted up to fill her. The warmth it provided was more than enough to content her.
She didn't want to think about the beast that had done this to her. Ashke had something called a sire now, even if that sire didn't want to be a sire. Ravnos was Ravnos, she supposed... there couldn't be another like him, surely. Something told her most vampires took pride in those sorts of titles. Not him. "Forever," she said, at length, the cigar's smoke spiraling up from the cap. It was a heaven not for the damned, but f*ck it all, it was hers. "Why? What's it matter?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2022 8:36 pm
“Forever is a long time, love.” Forever. That was too long to remember what it was like to have a family. Lillian tapped a claw thoughtfully on the arm of the bench, her gaze lingering into the darkness, chewing on whatever thought rolled over and over again in her mind. The question cut through the silence like a knife and Lillian’s gaze slid to Ashke, followed by soft laughter. “Well, it matters because you can’t tell a fish to walk on land by throwing him onto the shore. How can he know what it means to walk?” The end of her cigar illuminated her delicate features as she inhaled, the warmth of the spices filling her with a serene feeling. Old memories.
The fire snapped in its bed, a log had fallen, sending tiny specks of orange, red, and gold spiraling heavenward. Yet her gaze was still trained on Ashke contemplatively. “No, I don’t think I can tell you what family is, you're not the type to sit through lectures I wager. I think you have to see it. You have to experience it.” Lillian nodded, as if she’d made up her mind about something.
“Come, love. I will show you.” She stood up slowly, reaching her arms skyward in a deliciously satisfying stretch. As she relaxed again her gaze found the Fledgling once more. Something in her expression was serious. For all the warmth there was a hint of coldness, as though what she were about to say bore some weight. “But Ashke.. you have to want to learn. I’m not going to force you.” She would do as Ravnos asked, but she would not force this childe to understand.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:07 pm
Most of the time Ashke objected to being lectured, but what Lillian did was something else. For some strange reason that the young vampire could not understand, there was something about Lillian that made her want to... well, trust her. A burst of warmth in her own cold, dead heart. Something new, something maybe akin to what she'd felt when Ravnos had saved her life. Was that what family was? She didn't know. All she knew was, with the warm cigar in her hand, she wanted to listen to what this vampire had to say.
It was a feeling she'd never felt before. She didn't know what to think. She let Lillian talked, even found herself listening. Took a long drag off of the cigar, and pondered on what the other said. "Whatever it is... I want it. I think." Maybe. Did she dare trust? Memories of a hungry belly, of the cold damp streets, of disgusted looks and hands shoving her away, washed over the vampire. She couldn't even remember what her parents looked like. She'd hatched alone.
"Look, I'm not good at this... but that doesn't mean I'm..." she sighed, let the smoke fill her lungs like the scant warmth that kindled in her heart, "Unwilling." It just wasn't easy. It was like learning how to walk before she could crawl. Or... something harder than that.
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